Is Fujifilm's S8100fd the best ultrazoom camera to date? Chris Coleman gives you the details in our in-depth review.
Review summary of the FujiFilm FinePix S8100fd:
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 The Fujifilm S8100fd offers great image quality, a comfortably molded body and excellent manual controls. In future revisions, we'd like to see a dial for controlling shutter and f-stop settings, and it'd be nice if the camera were outfitted with a Li-ion battery instead of being tethered to double As. That said, nothing particular about the Fujifilm S8100fd stands out as bad, and quite a bit stands out as good, thus making it a solid choice for those looking for a fixed-lens with plenty of zoom. Release: March 2008. Price: $360.
Pros: 18x zoom. Good overall image quality. Great body.
Cons: A bit noisy. Could really use a dial or wheel controller.
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Full review of the FujiFilm FinePix S8100fd:
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Design - Very good
The Fujifilm S8100fd is one of the least obtrusive ultrazoom compacts we've seen. When turned off, it could easily be slipped into a purse, backpack or even a jacket pocket, and it's light enough to be comfortably ported. Granted, things change at full-zoom, at which the lens extends a good two inches out of the housing, but this is understandable considering the S8100fd's 18x magnification.
The button layout is well designed, with plenty of control over the camera's functions. There's a full mode-wheel in addition to shortcuts for everything from image stabilization to flash, and Fujfilm has again included their intuitive 'function' button, which provides immediate access to exposure settings. A dial or a control wheel would have been nice, especially considering the S8100fd's manual functionality, but overall the camera's control scheme strikes a good balance between power and ease of use.
The Fujifilm S8100fd is greatly boosted by the plush rubber padding adorning both the hand-grip and the thumb-hold on the back. Rubber not only prevents a camera from slipping out of your hands, it also simply makes it feel more comfortable during prolonged use, and the S8100fd's high-quality padding is excellent. As always, we also liked the inclusion of a twist-control for zooming, while we were less than thrilled with the tiny, aliased image in the electronic viewfinder.
Features - Good
The Fujifilm S8100fd is a fleshed-out compact, above and beyond its notable zoom capability. The camera packs sensor-shift image-stabilization, burst and continuous shooting modes, and a decent 58-megabytes of internal memory (enough for ~11 shots at maximum quality). Face detection is also present and coupled to red-eye removal, and the camera features a 'zoom-bracketing' mode that further simplifies portraiture by automatically taking a photo at 1x, 1.4x and 2x zoom. No surprise that this is accomplished via digital cropping though, so zoom-bracketing is best left unused. Far better is the exposure bracketing function, which takes three photos at either a 1/3, 2/3 or a 1 EV differential.
The manual-mode allows independent selection of shutter speeds and f-stops, and unlike most compacts, the S8100fd has a true variable-aperture with a full range of stops from 2.8 – 8. Shutter speeds are less impressive, ranging only from 4 – 1/2000 seconds. Four seconds is far too short for the longest shutter, not to mention the complete lack of bulb support, which damages the camera's overall usability: even with a tripod, Fujifilm S8100fd users will have to resort to high ISOs for very low-light photography. This is somewhat ameliorated by the camera's broad ISO range, which runs from a standout 64 - 1600. ISO-3200 and 6400 are also available but only at a reduced five megapixels, and as with the pushed ISOs we've seen on other Fujifilm cameras, they resulted in web cam - esque smears.
Interface - Good
Important settings such as ISO and resolution are accessible via the function button, whereas more general parameters such as white balance and sharpness are available in the system menu. In manual mode, shutter and f-stop settings are selected by pressing the exposure compensation and then using the four-way controller, though this really would have been more intuitive with a simple dial-controller.
Fujifilm has again thrown their support behind xD media, but unlike Sony's egregious insistence on Memory Stick Duo, they're completely absolved by also supporting SD cards. Less magnanimous is the camera's reliance on AA batteries, which feels sorely out of step for such a camera.
Image quality - Very good
The Fujifilm S8100fd is outfitted with an oversized 1/2.3-inch image-sensor, and the results are markedly above average. Noise is handled well until ISO-800, at which point some color and contrast distortion are introduced. 1600 is, alas, for emergency cases only. Regardless, noise management is generally solid, though higher sensitivities did tend to 'sparkle', in that errant white pixels would sometimes blot the darker areas of an image.
Scene test
This is a good result for a scene test, with accurate color rendition and a nice, deep blue in the sky. Overall noise is a bit higher than we'd like to see, especially for ISO-64, but this is nevertheless a capable performance for a compact.
Telescopic test
This telescopic test is taken from the same vantage point as the scene test. Thanks to its image stabilization, 18x shooting is a breeze on the Fujifilm S8100fd, and the image itself is free of aberration and haloing.
Edge test #1
Edge test #2
Likewise, these two edge tests also resulted in clean edge-definition. There's a small amount of blue-fringing in the bottom half of the first sample and some purple fringing in the second, but neither instance is enough for concern. The second test is particularly impressive, as most compacts tend to have noticeable aberration and diffraction at wide angles, whereas the Fujifilm S8100fd rendered took a relatively clean image.
Geometry test
This geometry test does reveal a fair amount of pin-cushioning, which is typical of compact lenses but still disappointing.
Macro test
However, this macro test, taken within millimeters of the same wall in the geometry test, is excellent. Detail is high, and the Fujifilm S8100fd did a good job of retaining the brick's rusty color. Note that the defocusing in the background is a result of a shallow depth-of-field, but the loss of focus on the right side is an imperfection of the lens.
Price and availability
The FujiFilm FinePix S8100fd will start selling for $360 () in March 2008.
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